Kathleen Tighe, new Chair of the Recovery Accountability and Transparency BoardKathleen S. Tighe, Inspector General for the Department of Education and a member of the Recovery Board, is President Obama’s choice to take over the helm of the Board.
“I am honored to have been appointed by the President to serve our nation’s taxpayers in an additional capacity as chair of the Recovery Board,” Tighe said. “Ensuring that there is effective oversight, accountability and transparency involving Recovery Act dollars has been the hallmark of the Board’s work to date, and I intend to continue that critical mission.”
Tighe served as trial attorney in the Fraud Section of the Justice Department from 1988 to 1991. Later, she joined the Office of the Inspector General at the General Services Administration, serving as Assistant Counsel and then as Counsel for the Inspector General. In 2006, she became the Deputy Inspector General at the Department of Agriculture. On March 17, 2010, Tighe was sworn in as the Inspector General for the Department of Education.
During her tenure at Education, Tighe and her staff have netted more than $100 million in settlements from entities attempting to defraud the government. In addition, work conducted by her office recently helped convict a former City University of New York employee who tried to scam more than $1.5 million in Recovery funds.
Tighe, who also serves on the Government Accountability and Transparency Board, will retain her position as the Education Department IG when she assumes her new duties as Chair of the Recovery Board on January 1. She replaces the outgoing Chairman Earl E. Devaney, who presided over the Recovery Board since its inception in 2009. Devaney is retiring on December 31 after a long career in government service.
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